by Bill Bardelmeier
I used to know the Cape Eleuthera Resort pretty well. I just happened to be on a friend's yacht there the week they finally pulled the plug and shut down back in the 80s.
A day or two later the newest of the big US nuclear missile subs (I believe it was the USS Chicago) surfaced a quarter mile offshore and proceeded to ”make the day” for every taxi on Eleuthera. They ferried shipyard workers - who were aboard the sub for builders' trials - to transport aircraft at the airport and brought back sailors reporting for duty on board.
Therefore (without a hydro chart before me) I believe that the deep Exuma trench runs quite close to the marina, meaning that Cape Eleuthera would be a prime candidate, as a first baby step, to simply bring up some 40 degree F water from the deeps for air conditioning. That would save a lot of money on electric power. Today, you can run 600 hp irrigation pumps on solar alone.
I was in Bora Bora in December and the new Intercontinental Hotel is pumping water there from a depth of 3000 feet to air condition its whole installation - hotel, shops, spa etc. They discharge the warmed (but still cool) water into a pipe that extends below the level at which coral can survive, to avoid reef damage.
In the Bahamas we have quite a number of sites where very deep cold water is juxtaposed with shallow warm water. We must learn to use these natural features to gain clean energy efficiency for the future.
As I recall, one could moor a supertanker very close to the beach at one area of southwest Great Abaco. There are other similar sites and we must learn to benefit from some of the unusual conditions in this archipelago.
Comments